Petroleum and energy owes Hagen firm K8,000 in bills

A COMPANY in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands province, yesterday said the Department of Petroleum and Energy owes it K8,000 in hire car bills.
The bill was incurred during the Moran petroleum development licence area five (PDL5) gas review forum in Mt Hagen in May. The landowners had hired cars from Sudo Hire Cars for use during the forum.
The company said a senior officer from the department and his assistant had promised to make the payments but had not done so.
In a media statement last week, Moran landowners also condemned the treatment given to them by these officers at the Department of Petroleum and Energy.
Landowners met in Mendi, Southern Highlands, last week and called on department secretary Rendle Rimua and Moran PDL5 coordinator Collin Kalimba to investigate and resolve the matter.
They warned that the next oil forum, after the formation of government, would face problems if their outstanding hire car and other bills in Mt Hagen  were not settled.
The bills were to be settled by the department through a specific K5 million government allocation for the forum. The funding was kept at the department and managed by Kalimba and his coordinator Panda Timo and assistant Chris Koi.
Landowners’ spokesman John Kila said they wanted Rimua and Kalimba to order an immediate audit of how the K5 million was expended.
“We cannot stress more on the importance of state entities protecting landowners’ interest and ensuring progress is made at all levels.
“Timo and Koi must explain how they spend the K5 million and, especially, why the hire car and other bills in Mt Hagen were not settled for more than a month,” Kila said.
“We also want the secretary and his Moran PDL5 director to appoint new officers to manage our interests from August onwards.”
The next oil forum and venue would be confirmed after landowner leaders from the 14 oil heads meet with the new minister in government.